Hard Evidence by Roxanne Rustand Page B

There’s even water in the hall.”
    “The tub?” Claire stared blankly at her, her anger dissipating in a swirl of anxiety and confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Janna hunkered down in front of Claire’s chair at eye level, as if talking to a child. “I’ve been outside. Rylie is out in the lobby watching TV, with her foot propped on pillows,” she said with a smile. “No one else was in the lodge. Maybe you started running a bath and just got distracted? That can happen to anyone.”
    “I certainly didn’t do it,” Claire snapped, angered at the gentle compassion in Janna’s eyes. “It had to be that fool child of yours.”
    Janna sighed and rocked back on her heels. “It couldn’t have been, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve mopped up everything, so you can take your bath now, if you’d like.”
    “I never take a bath this time of day.” Claire sniffed. “If I were you, I’d be mighty careful about believing what that Rylie says.”
    At a tiny, horrified gasp, Claire glanced sharply toward the door and saw Rylie standing there on her crutches, her face white and eyes brimming with sudden tears. Eavesdropping, no doubt.
    Janna was at the girl’s side in an instant. Wrapping her in a hug. Coddling her. Then she looked over her shoulder at Claire, sparks flashing in her eyes. “Rylie is an honest and loving little girl,” Janna said evenly. “And I believe what she says. Let’s just drop this, okay?”
    Claire snorted.
    “Honey, go on back to your room for a minute, okay?” Janna brushed a kiss against Rylie’s forehead and helped her maneuver the crutches so she could head down the hall. “Grandma and I need to talk for a minute.”
    Janna watched her make her way down the hall, then turned back to Claire, her arms folded across her chest. “I’m glad we’re living here together, so you two can get to know each other better. Your granddaughter is the sweetest little girl you could imagine.”
    Claire impatiently slapped her magazine against her lap and opened it to a random page.
    Janna ignored the obvious dismissal and pulled a chair up to face her. “Look, I know we have a tough history. But let’s keep that between the two of us, okay? Rylie doesn’t deserve your anger.”
    “Tough history?” Incredulous, Claire stared at her. “I’m not the one who never pitched in around here.”
    “I tried, Mom. You just never thought I did anything well enough.” She took a steadying breath. “Not like Tessa—she was always so much better at ranch work.”
    “And I’m not the one who cut out in the middle of the night and never looked back.”
    “We were always at odds, you and me.” Janna smiled sadly. “I’m hoping that will change. In the meantime, I need you to be a little nicer to Rylie. Her other grandma—”
    “I don’t have to listen to this.” Claire threw her magazine across the room and launched to her feet. Brushing past Janna, she strode down the hall to the private back entrance, automatically grabbing for a set of keys as she shoved the screen door open and stalked outside.
    But it wasn’t possible for Claire to outrun the nagging voice in her head. Not if she walked the trails for hours, not if she got behind the wheel and drove ninety down the endless Wyoming highways. Just like your brother. Just like your brother .
    Her brother, Gray, had succumbed to Alzheimer’s long before he died last year, but there was no way she’d let that happen to her. He’d been weak. He didn’t have the resolve to look adversity in the eye and dare anyone—or anything—to stand in his way.
    She’d never give in.
    Still, guilt nipped at the edge of her conscience. Had she turned on that water, then totally forgotten about it? And what about the other times, when her mind went completely blank?
    At the edge of the porch she looked down at the hard, cold objects in her hand, panic turning her palms damp and sending her heart tripping into overdrive.
    A wisp